


The Tevinter

by Ohsoverysensible



Series: Dorian's Sweet Boy [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fluff, Gen, Humour, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 17:55:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4029265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ohsoverysensible/pseuds/Ohsoverysensible
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Alexander Trevelyan and Dorian Pavus had been through more than enough together, in their short acquaintance, to warrant something of a friendship. At the very least, to warrant trust. But not everyone was as thrilled as Alex was to hear that the dreaded, mysterious, sarcastic Tevinter Mage was going to stick about Haven. For the foreseeable future.</p><p>(Consider this the Prologue)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"You  _want_ to see the breach?" Alexander Trevelyan mused. He stared over the heads of all his advisors to get a glimpse of the man who leaned, nonchalantly but with confidence, just on the outside of the group. Everyone twitched just slightly towards the Herald, unconsciously letting their veiled eyes move back and forth between the two men, who now unwillingly shared an intense history. They seemed to only have eyes for each other.

Dorian Pavus, an essential unknown and a definite wild card, cocked his head subtly and gave an amused little smirk. "I'm...curious about it," he stated. "Regardless of its ever present terror, I deem it quite fascinating. I'd like to see it at some point."

"So you're staying?" Alex asked, earning yet more interested glances from his council.

"Oh, didn't I mention?" Dorian said. "The south is so charming and rustic, I adore it to little pieces."

Alex chuckled, and everyone looked at him, then at Dorian, and back again as if they were missing an inside joke.

There would forever be an odd link between Alexander and Dorian, two people who had spent far too much time together far too quickly for strangers. They'd each held the other's life in their hands, and coming back to the real world, a world with only minor chaos as opposed to complete catastrophe, was jarring. No one knew what Alex had seen. No one could understand the horror he felt at seeing a future where he failed, where the enemy won, and the world fell. Though Alex took deep breaths, shook his head of the memory, and tried to keep his thoughts clear, it still clung to him menacingly, and there was no one he could share that with.

Except for Dorian.

"I'm glad you're staying," Alex said after a brief pause. "There's no one I'd rather be stranded it time with, future or present."

Dorian smirked. "Excellent choice. But let's not get stranded any time soon, yes?"

"Agreed," Alexander said eagerly.

"I'll begin preparations to march on the summit," Cullen said, winning the eyes of Alex and Dorian for the first time in what felt like a while. "Maker willing, the mages will be enough to grant us victory."

"You need to use that faith just a little bit more," Dorian teased softly. Cullen cast him a very unsure glance, and after a moment everyone dispersed back to their regular duties. Dorian disappeared back into the shadows he'd sprung from, and Alex watched him go with a strange flutter of excitement. He'd already gathered a good amount of people, troops, to fight at his side and help make this horrible experience just a little easier to handle. But Dorian had a strange aura about him that felt...different. He wasn't the first mage Alex had met, but he was the first Tevinter. Alex wondered vaguely if that was it.

"Herald," Cullen started, clasping his hands behind his back with a casual military grace. "Might I speak to you a moment?"

Alex turned away from the sight of Dorian ducking through the Chantry doors, and he blinked blankly at the Commander. "Of course," Alex said. 

Cullen swallowed before speaking. "Not that I'm questioning your decisions," he began poorly, "but do you think it's wise to keep... _Lord_ Pavus with us here?"

Alexander turned so he faced Cullen head on. They were similar in build, with Cullen perhaps being slightly taller, but Alexander was larger. His warrior's frame was sturdy, muscular, and his two-handed training had built him up to be stronger than sword and shield. "What do you mean?" Alex wondered, lowering his dark red brows over his blue eyes.

Cullen took a slow breath. "With all due respect, he  _is_ a complete unknown."

"We have other members you've brought on gladly who are complete unknowns," Alex challenged.

"Not gladly," Cullen grumbled, relaxing his arms and shifting his weight. "I merely wish to bring this to your attention. He shows up out of nowhere, in the midst of powerful magic, suddenly saying he wishes to help--"

"He  _did_ help," Alex interrupted. _  
_

But Cullen wasn't thrown off his course. "Nevertheless," he went on easily, "we know nothing about him. We have a base amount of information from what he told us and from scant knowledge Josephine or Leliana may have." Cullen stepped slightly closer and lowered his voice. "As a Tevinter, he may do more hurt than good here."

"We need all the help we can get," Alexander noted, but it didn't seem to quell Cullen's worries. And Alex could admit, if not a little begrudgingly, that Cullen was a little right. While Dorian had been indispensable to Alex through their recent mage difficulties, would he be as useful here? Or would he just cause more trouble than he was worth?

Alex sighed. "I'll keep an eye on him," he told Cullen. "If it gets out of hand...we can send him packing." It felt like a lie when Alexander said it, and it surely didn't make his kind heart feel very good, but it seemed to placate the Commander.

"I appreciate you hearing me out," Cullen said gently, and he gave a curt nod before excusing himself to his business. But Alex stood in the quiet Chantry for a little too long, staring at the statues and braziers, wondering if casting out a willing volunteer just because of his origins made him a bad person. With the horrors they were facing, could they be so picky?

***

With a momentary chance for lull, Alexander began his careful, cautious study of the Tevinter mage he'd gratefully accepted into this growing band of misfits. Haven was buzzing with the arrival of the mages, with some voices cheering and others warning, but opinions of Lord Pavus were easily seen if not heard.

Alexander watched Dorian from the sidelines, masking his spying with other actions such as watching the troops practice or investigating the blacksmith. He found that Dorian was anything but cautious or aloof. He did like to keep to himself, for the most part, but he moved through Haven with unabashed confidence, a kind of swagger to his step. Even as people whispered as he passed or cast him evil glances, Dorian kept his head up and his eyes forward.

His walk seemed to be lead by his arms, which he let sway casually at his side, and his head was either perfectly straight or just slightly cocked to the side. It gave him a roguish air that Alex started to realize he liked. Dorian's fashion sense was also cause of discussion. The apparently daring Tevinter look threw some of the more...modest...clerics into a frenzy, but that too didn't seem to bother Dorian.

Alex kept his "scandalous" opinions to himself as a sort of practiced reflex, but he would be a fool to ignore the fact that Dorian was handsome. As he watched the Tevinter, Alex came to discover more of an interest rather than a skepticism. Dorian's confidence and good looks probably made Alex a little biased, but any caution Cullen had made Alex feel dissipated as he spent the day simply analyzing the way Dorian moved, spoke, acted.

Alex also learned a lot from the way  _other_ people reacted to Dorian's presence. _  
_

Solas was perhaps the most indifferent to the Tevinter's presence, which surprised Alex. He wondered if Solas was simply unmoved by the new recruit, or if he kept his distance out of an unwillingness to converse with a person he had no interest in. Alex knew little about Solas and his history, almost as little as what he knew of the Imperium. But the two seemed civil so far, at the very least.

Varric and Dorian seemed to hit it off. They'd had time to talk slightly before the nasty events that separated the party in Redcliffe. Their shared sense of wit and sarcasm, mixed with a desire to make the dark humorous, made them a good match. Varric even gave Dorian one of his characteristic nicknames: Sparkler. It suited him.

Blackwall was a bit more opinionated when it came to Dorian's character. "He's arrogant. He preens himself. But you already know that. He doesn't even hide it," Blackwall told Alex as they stood together at the blacksmith's. Dorian had been by to investigate, something he seemed to be doing all around Haven, and the blacksmith had spit at him as he passed. Dorian played it cool, pausing only briefly to look at the spit on the ground and then at the smith, before turning away and walking off with a casual smirk which he directed at Alex.

Everyone else seemed to have mixed opinions as Alex took it upon himself to survey the others. Sera was as noncommittal as always, but she seemed to hold no immediate judgement on Dorian. Cassandra viewed the big picture, worrying about what Dorian's presence would do to their reputation. Vivienne was sassy class when it came to her first impression of the man, but Alex wondered if she saw the similarity between them at all. Overall, Alex was pleased to find no one was immediately intent on casting Dorian out. In fact, Dorian was pretty keen on casting  _himself_ out.

But life went on, and soon Alex had to go back to regular duties and issues that required his attention more. But through meetings, discussions, and plans, he found his mind drifting to thoughts of his new aquaintance. Once he was released for the evening, Alex's feet just blindly took him in the direction of a black haired pariah he could just see form the Chantry doors.

Dorian had a book in his hand, which already seemed like a natural sight to Alex, and he sat on the edge of barrel absent-mindedly as Alex approached from behind. His feet crunched in the snow, and though Dorian didn't look up at first, Alex somehow knew the older man was aware of everything.

"So," Dorian began easily, suddenly, as if they'd already been talking. "The Inquisition supports free mages. What's next? Elves running Halamshiral? Cows milking farmers?" Dorian seemed to finish his page before looking up with a raised brow and staring Alex down.

Alex froze a moment before managing a chuckle. "Give me time," he joked lightly. "I'm sure I'll surprise you." Just looking in his eyes threw Alex off. They'd been through enough to be comfortable around one another by now, and yet Alex's latest analysis made him feel suddenly more nervous. Like he absolutely had to make a good impression.

"I suspect that's untrue," Dorian said, slapping his book closed. "Unless you strip yourself naked and allow the Chantry to flog you in repentance. Now that would surprise me."

"That's an odd thing to say," Alex said through a confused smile.

"I'm sure you'll get used to it," Dorian shrugged, waving away Alex's confusion with ease. "I do wonder if yo've considered what this support of yours will do. For mages. In general."

"You too?" Alex sighed, looking across Haven as if he could pinpoint the many people who would agree.

"The Inquisition is seen as an authority," Dorian went on. "You've given southern mages licence to be...well, like mages back home." 

Alex smiled naively. For such a massive warrior, he was often like a wide-eyed pup. "If that means they're anything like you, I approve." Dorian's responding grin made Alex blanch, and then blush, as he realized how his words sounded. It was dangerous territory for him to compliment any man, no matter how subtle. It always made him feel like he was going to be found out...

But Dorian barked a laugh. "There aren't many mages like me back home," he said.

Alex gulped. "I'd believe that," he said, trying not to let his eyes give Dorian's frame a quick up and down.

"I never fit in," Dorian said in a tone that sounded mocking. "Bloodstains are so difficult to clean you see," he joked.

"So we're doomed to a future of blood magic?" Alex wondered, raising a brow.

"Not at first," Dorian said, suddenly serious. "But you'd be a fool to not see where this could lead."

Alex's smile faded and he looked down, a sharp pang of worry radiating through his chest. He'd given it a lot of thought actually, though everyone seemed fine with thinking Alex didn't think at all. Hearing it from a mage, a Tevinter mage, made it all the more concerning. "Where do you think it could lead?" Alex asked, looking up through his lashes as Dorian seemed to analyze his sudden downheartedness.

Dorian hopped down off the barrel and set his book down atop it. Alex had to step back awkwardly as Dorian came a little too close. "The Imperium was once just like the south," Dorian said. "Templars, proper circles, all that rot. Then it changed. By inches. Not that this is reason to oppress us. My homeland should be a cautionary tale, not a source of inspiration."

Alex just stared for a moment, a barely there smile on his lips as he looked at Dorian's pensive face. He'd seen only cold disregard or sarcastic wit on Dorian today, for the most part. It was strange to see that Dorian had a range. It was also strange to just talk to the man with ease, without any panic in his voice over what they were going to do next or where they were going. Instead of terrified partners in crime, they were just people.

The mage noticed Alex's odd stare and crossed his arms over his chest wryly. "What? Are you admiring the view?"

Alex smirked and gave a breathy laugh before shrugging. "It simply occurs to me that I barely know anything about you," he admitted.

"Beyond me being a mage from Tevinter, you mean," Dorian said, making his own status sound like a frightful thing.

Alex chuckled. "Beyond that, yes."

Dorian grinned. "And beyond my being so charming and well dressed? Which is obvious to anyone."

Alex laughed again and ran a hand through his deep red hair. He felt flustered, but somehow also completely free to speak his mind. "I'm well aware of your finer qualities, believe me," Alex said, bordering on dangerous talk again. His confidence faltered a bit as he realized how forward he was being. It wasn't like him to behave so openly. It was a risk, for his station and his person. But Dorian seemed to accept all compliments, casual or...otherwise.

In fact, Dorian was smiling and leaning on his hip with a smoulder in his eyes that lead Alex on. "Of course I believe you," Dorian said cheekily. "The moment I saw you I thought, 'There's a man who knows quality.'" Alex laughed off his nerves, and Dorian just smiled wider.

Dorian did like having an audience, and he certainly enjoyed the performance. And making this massive hulk of warrior chuckle like a schoolboy was endlessly fun. After everything they'd just been through, laughter was the best thing to hear. 

"Now what was I talking about?" Dorian mused as Alex's laugh slowed. "Ah yes! Me. I am the scion of House Pavus, a product of generations of careful breeding, and the repository for its hopes and dreams."

"Careful breeding?" Alex asked, brows furrowing.

Dorian sighed, but not over Alex's questions, over the facts he had to explain. "The Great families of Tevinter don't have children. They refine traits, weed out the undesirable, and promote the rest. My mother was chosen for my father because magic runs strongly in her blood. Never mind that they loathed each other. They wanted a son that could become Archon, to make House Pavus the envy of the Imperium. They got me. A cautionary tale that you should be careful what you wish for."

Alex's eyes were wide, and he sighed. "There are a lot of things there I don't understand," he admitted, earning a soft chuckle from Dorian. "But...you  _are_ nobility," he said, marking a mental tally in his head for the facts he'd guessed or wondered over that were turning out correct.

Dorian nodded but it was half-hearted. "And I despised it all. The lies, the scheming, the illusions of supremacy. That's Tevinter in a nutshell, isn't it? Needless to say my family was not happy with my choices."

Alex tilted his head to the side curiously. "Why would your family be upset with your choices?" he asked.

"Because I rejected their idyllic plan," Dorian said bluntly, simply, as if saying it out right was therapeutic. "If they had their way, by now I'd be married to some unlucky girl from a powerful family. We'd live in luxurious despair, despising each other as I waited to take my father's place in the magisterium."

"Why despising?" Alex asked. "Surely you could be civil enough to have a family or...the like."

Dorian laughed but it was slightly bitter. "'The like.' Yes, that's what we'd call it," he chuckled darkly.

"What?" Alex wondered.

Dorian gave him a cautious look, hesitating, but then he raised a brow. "I don't believe I could make any girl happy," he said, his words loaded with a meaning Alex could pick up enough to make his heart hammer. "So naturally I declined the honour," Dorian went on quickly, giving Alex an emotional whiplash. "And thus it's best I'm far from home. Less of an embarrassment, you see."

Alex frowned. "I'm getting the impression that you don't much care for your homeland." 

"On the contrary," Dorian said. "I care for my homeland a great deal. There's so much potential. Sadly, we squander it. We refuse to acknowledge how far we've fallen, because pretending is easier. Not everyone feels that way. I don't. Sadly, I'm the minority."

Alex blinked and hesitated. "It just seems...so much of what you say about the Imperium is entirely negative."

Dorian sighed and nodded sadly. "It may seem that way," he said. "For all our faults, my people have many virtues. We are laden with history and culture. Tevinter is where Thedas truly began, remember?"

Alex smiled gently. "I recall being taught that once upon a time."

"We treasure our past," Dorian said sincerely. "You can walk down a side street and find nothing built in the modern age. And despite appearances, we care. Deeply. About everything. We have no reserve, not in war, and not in love."

Alex blushed against all his attempts not too when Dorian met his eyes. He dropped his head fast as well. "Well," he mumbled, "I'm glad there's something nice to be said for Tevinter."

"If I truly believed my homeland was beyond all hope, I wouldn't miss it so much," Dorian said softly.

"People are quick to judge," Alex sighed.

Dorian raised his brows in agreement. "Yes. Everyone is quite willing to write me off immediately. Don't they know you should never judge a book by it's cover? Besides, I have such a splendid cover." He gestured to himself and made Alex smile. His skill and diffusing tension, or severity, was impressive. 

"I hope  _you_ have a better opinion of me, at least," Dorian said, casting a glance at Solas as he stood speaking to an apothecary. "We did nearly die together."

Alex laughed. "You're safe from my doubts," he assured Dorian.

"Can you imagine what would have happened if we'd never got back?" Dorian asked. "If we'd never been able to reverse the time magic. It would have been you and I against all odds, fighting to right wrongs and defeat evil."

"Sounds glorious," Alex joked. "And impossible. We would have been dead in a week."

Dorian snorted. "I hate to say it but you're probably right." He looked into the distance around Haven, much like Alex had done earlier, and gave a little sigh. "I think we need every able body we can scrape up," he said, looking back at Alex with a raised black brow. "Even a mage from Tevinter."

Alex could see the hidden jab there. "Everyone will get used to  you in time," Alex said, rubbing the back of his neck cautiously.

Dorian shrugged. "We'll see. Regardless, I'll be around for...whatever. I can do well in the background as well as in the fore. Whatever is...safest."

Alex frowned. Dorian didn't seem the kind of man to shrink back into the shadows, even though he liked to lurk in them, and the way he spoke made it sound like just the idea of hanging back was painful. Alex didn't like the way everyone was immediately skeptical of the Tevinter mage, but he hated it all the more to hear that Dorian understood.

Alex spoke, for once, without overthinking it. "I'll be going back into the Hinterlands soon," he said, making Dorian look up with interest. "Small things. Nothing world changing. While the mages settle in and ready themselves for a full assault on the breech, there are a few loose threads we could tie up. Rifts we could close."

"That all sounds exciting," Dorian said sarcastically, but Alex smirked.

"Come along," Alex said. "I could use your magic."

Dorian grinned softly as he realized what Alex was doing. "I should warn you," he said. "I'm not the best healer."

Alexander shrugged. "I usually try and make it so we  _don't_ need much healing."

Dorian laughed. "My you are confident!" Alex just smiled, waiting, and Dorian locked his eyes to the younger man. "Say the word, and I'll march."

Alex held his hand out, and Dorian looked at it with a laugh before shaking it firmly. Alex managed to keep the shiver from shaking his shoulders, but it ran up his spine nonetheless. As he walked away he only had one thought in his mind, even after everything he'd just been taught and told.

All Alex could think about was how surprisingly soft Dorian's hand had been.


	2. Chapter 2

It was the day after, and the sky was cloudy with morning haziness and the threat of snow. The sun was just rising over the mountains, and Haven was starting to wake up. So was Alex, who was already dressed in his armour and yawning outside of the Chantry beside Blackwall and Varric. Or "The Chosen Ones" as they'd just jokingly deemed themselves.

"You can say no," Alexander smiled around his yawn.

"I feel like that's a test," Varric said, pulling on his glove a little tighter. Bianca was sitting in the snow, and Varric leaned an elbow on the top of it with ease. Or sleepiness. "Doesn't that seem like a test?" he asked, looking at Blackwall.

He too leaned on his weapon with a tired attitude. "Can't say," he smirked. "Doesn't seem the type to play mind games," Blackwall noted, giving Alex an up and down look.

Alex laughed, his own massive axe strapped across his back. The weight of it was oddly comforting, and his broad shoulders were used to the feeling of power across his shoulder blades. "I'd rather have people at my side who are  _willing_ ," Alex joked. "So say the word and you're out."

They laughed. "Whoa, careful," Varric said. "He has a temper."

Alexander laughed along with them a moment as people bustled about around them, the whispers of their heading off again buzzing around the makeshift camp. The smell of breakfast wafted in with a breeze, but the three of them had already stuffed some kind of sustenance in their mouths before getting dressed and standing in the cold morning air. There'd be time to eat on the go, anyway, but as the three of them all stood there, only Blackwall and Varric looked confused.

"So?" Varric started with a chuckle. "Are we just going to stand around for a while?"

"We're just waiting on our fourth," Alex explained easily, giving their small group a little look around.

Blackwall scoffed. "Solas isn't one to be late."

Alex gave a grin that was somehow both sheepish and sly. "He's not coming, actually."

Blackwall's eyebrows lowered, but Varric gave Blackwall a little swat in the arm and jutted his chin out behind Alex. They all turned to look, and walking through the small skiff of snow with a small bag slung across his chest and an easy expression, Dorian Pavus made his way across the courtyard towards them. Varric's eyes shifted to look at the side of Alex's face, and there was a blossoming grin there that he was struggling to keep back. That immediately boded ill in Varric's mind.

He'd seen grins like that before...

"Solas won't be pleased," Varric said as Blackwall glared.

Alex shrugged and turned over his shoulder to look at them. "He's probably still asleep," he said. "I doubt he minds."

"You sure this is wise?" Blackwall asked, but before anyone could hiss an answer or retort, Dorian had landed.

He looked over the group with that permanent smirk and cocked his head to the side. The varying looks he received was something he was used to. He gestured to his bag. "Have I packed too light?" he wondered jokingly, noticing the severe lack of packs on the rest of the team.

Alex smiled. "Perfectly adequate."

"I didn't know what to bring," Dorian small-talked. "So I threw in a few handfuls of random assortments and made my way over."

The sound of Blackwall sliding his sword back into its sheath sliced through the tension, and Alex and Dorian turned to look at Blackwall's clearly unimpressed face.

" _That_ sounded menacing," Dorian teased, raising a dark brow at Blackwall as his own lowered further and further. "Something got your beard in a knot?"

Blackwall scoffed and ignored Dorian's gaze. He turned to Alex. "You can't be serious," he said sharply.

Alexander raised a red eyebrow in a way far too similar to Dorian's. Already. "Is there a problem?"

Blackwall opened his mouth to answer, but Varric stepped forward a bit and stopped him. "I think we're just surprised. We had such a good thing going with Chuckles. A rhythm, if you will."

"Right," said Blackwall, taking whatever he could to make an argument. "How do we even know he can fight?"

Dorian crossed his arms over his chest.

"I know he can," Alexander stated. "Or have you both forgotten the story I told you about a dark future where we failed and everything went to shit?"

Varric's eyes widened a bit at that. He hadn't heard Alex swear once since meeting the kid, and the sudden bit of acid in Alex's tone threw him off. But it also made his budding theories all the more apparent. There was more than one reason Dorian was joining their party, but Varric hated to admit he could feel the suspicion rubbing off on him from Blackwall's tense stance. The group actually seemed to be standing on sides, with Alex and Dorian on one half, Blackwall on the other, and Varric just barely in between.

Blackwall and Dorian hadn't gotten along in the least up to this point. Blackwall made his opinions clear about the other man whenever he could, and during their short interval of travel when headed to Redcliffe, Blackwall and Dorian had more little spats than Varric thought was possible. It seemed everything about Dorian aggravated Blackwall, his mannerisms, his jokes, his carefree attitudes...Blackwall was the opposite of that in many ways, but a stubborn streak ran through them both, and neither could see the other's varying sides.

But Varric liked Dorian. If he was being honest, there was really nothing about the man that said "danger". At least not in the direct sense. They'd managed to have a good amount of conversations thus far that ended in Varric chuckling and Dorian grinning at the ground. They had similar attitudes towards things, and Varric had initially been rather excited to have someone like that around him again. He missed Hawke's dry humour and sarcasm, and in Dorian he found a willing, silver-tongued conversationalist.

But Tevinter. It hung in the air around Dorian even when he looked more casual than Cassandra or Commander Cullen. Even with a book in his hand or a laugh on his face, "Tevinter" was still there. And it was still annoyingly concerning.

Dorian chuckled finally and dropped his arms. "As unexcited as I am to spend a long road trip with you, Blackwall," he stared saucily, "I'm keen to see more of the South. And to be of use." The last words he said with a hardened expression, and strong eyes.

"You don't take anything seriously enough for that," Blackwall snarled.

"Blackwall," Alexander warned.

But Dorian shook his head. "Regardless of how you feel about me, or whatever repressed emotions you might be battling--"

"Repressed  _what?"_  

"--Our glorious Herald here has asked me to come along," Dorian went on easily. "If that bothers you, or if you have a problem with that, feel free to bring up the rear. You're already good at being an ass."

Blackwall moved forward, and Alex intervened. "Alright. I need you  _both_ ," he said, opening his wide blue eyes so that they were soft yet stern. He gave Dorian and Blackwall each a warning look, feeling more than a little doubt in his chest for this new venture, but he  _had_ seen Dorian fight. Not that Solas was unskilled, in fact far from it, but there was a ferocity about Dorian that spoke volumes. And he'd been with him through the thickest of thicks. He knew what Dorian could do when pressed. That was the kind of power Alex wanted on his side. He needed raw strength, not calculated logic.

Dorian had felt like the missing piece to a team Alex had greatly needed.

"Is this going to be hard for you?" Alexander asked as Blackwall stepped back.

He took a slow breath in and seemed to compose himself. "I'll be fine."

"And you?" Alex asked, rounding on Dorian a little softer.

Dorian threw a hand to his chest. "Me? What have I done?"

Alex raised a brow.

Dorian sighed and relented, much to Varric's surprise. "On my honour," Dorian said. "I'll  _try_. If he will."

"More likely I'll be better behaved than you," Blackwall spat.

"Enough," Alex demanded. "Get along," he said, shifting the axe on his back almost like another silent warning. "And let's go." He turned on his heel and brushed passed them all with a little sigh and a shake of his head. Dorian shot Blackwall one last look before making his way towards the gates behind Alex.

Blackwall huffed.

"Play nice, Hero," Varric warned, feeling as if Blackwall would start growling soon.

"You can't be thrilled by this," Blackwall said, gesturing angrily towards the two figures that made their way down the snowy steps.

Varric frowned. "I'm just saying, keep your mouth shut," he said gently. They started to walk and Blackwall shook his head. "But keep your eyes open," Varric added.


End file.
